Save2PDF & DTTG

For all those who have been frustrated trying to get material into DTTG from the web, there is a new iPad app called Save2PDF ($10) that can do exactly that: save a web page or other file to a PDF. It can then be opened in DTTG.

This is a potential boon for my workflow; previously, the least annoying way to get a formatted iPad web page into DT was to email the link, open it on my home computer, then use the Safari extension to save it into desktop DT (and eventually sync it back to DTTG).

With Save2PDF, I can get most of that work done without leaving the iPad. I choose “Print” in Mobile Safari, which saves the web page as a PDF and opens it in Save2PDF. I can then rename it (if necessary), choose “Open In” to get it into DTTG, and sync it to desktop DT. The only thing I have to do back on the desktop is move it to the proper folder; if and when DTTG allows us to move things about, I’ll be able to do the whole process on the iPad, which would make me very happy.

Save2PDF has a number of other functions, including the ability to print to most printers straight from the iPad (I had to install a helper program and reboot the desktop to get that to work). The user interface is ugly and has some usability issues, but it’s functional. It’s competitive in price with other iPad printing apps, and I don’t know any other app that can save to PDF so easily.

And no, I don’t work for the developer.

Thank you for this cool tip!

Thanks for this. It’s ugly, the “Open in” button isn’t where I would expect it, but it works great, which is what really matters.

Regards,

I had my doubts because PrintBureau (another app of the same developer that includes the ability to save webpages as pdf) offers the ability to save webpages as pdf from its own browser, but not from within Mobile Safari. At Eric’s suggestion I contacted the developer of Save2PDF and asked whether Save2PDF really offers the ability to print to PDF from within Safari. Within 10 minutes I received the following answer: “This App has been modified due to compliance changes for Apple’s guidelines and printing from other Apps via AirPrint had to be removed.” In other words: it is no longer possible to use Save2PDF (or PrintBureau) to save a pdf from Safari’s Print Menu. The Web page printing help for PrintCentral, Save2PDF and PrintBureau is at http://mobile.eurosmartz.com/help.html#webprint1.

Guys, I’m trying to find out if it’s possible to clip pages/data into DTTG from Safari on iPhone and seems that the thread suggests that it’s not possible unless I use something like Save2PDF.

Is there plans to make it a native feature of DTTG in the near future? To me the main use for DTTG would be to grab data into DT on the go. Something that would replace Evernote. I want to be able to record voice, clip web pages, add notes. From what I see so far I can only add notes.
Unfortunately, there is no trial version of DTTG. That would be handy to try before buy.

I’m not so much interested to carry documents with me. Maybe few, but there is a free Dropbox available for this use case.
Add information while away from my laptop is of more interest to me at this stage.
Am I missing something here?

The DEVONthink bookmarklets for grabbing a bookmark or a HTML page work with DEVONthink To Go. I seem to recall that perhaps one of the other bookmarklets works also (don’t know which one), but the above are the only two that I can confirm that work.

I played a bit with Save2PDF, Hazel and Dropbox here and came up with a workflow that might meet my requirements for on the go import into DTP without DTTG. I thought I’d share this in case somebody else needs a budget way to import documents into DT on the go :slight_smile:

As arnow pointed out, there is no way to print into PDF directly from Safari anymore, so what I did was:

  1. copy&paste URL from Safari into Save2PDF and open the page there
  2. print it into a PDF and save locally
  3. go to ‘Documents’ in SavePDF and open the saved PDF with Dropbox, where I created a folder called ‘Import to DT’

On my Mac I run Hazel and added the Dropbox folder into the list of watched folders and created a rule to grab all PDF’s from there and move it into DT’s ‘Inbox’ folder in Finder and give me a Growl notification that it’s done.

Worked great!

It works just as well with Goodreader usin the web downloads tab then sending to DevonThink to go…

Del

iCabMobile comes with a plugin for the Web2PDF convert service and can send the resulting PDF to DTTG.

Just wanted to chip in with two paid options. iAnnotate is now capable of saving as PDF, and PDF Converter, well, converts to PDF.

I did a side by side comparison, and both of them work well, PDF Converter did a slightly better job in breaking the webpage into separate pages, and I find it’s interface more elegant, since I prefer PDF Expert over iAnnotate. It’s $6.99, though, so if you already have iAnnotate, I guess it’s not enough of a reason to purchase it.

The neat thing about them is that if you follow this advice (tabletlegal.com/save-webpage-file-ipad/), you can create a bookmark in Safari that opens them directly in each software (Just use “a” for iAnnotate, or “pdf” for PDF Converter), so it becomes a three tap process to save a webpage as PDF in DTTG.

One thing I miss from “clip to dt” on the desktop is that it automatically adds the URL, and I have to do that process manually on the iPad. Not a huge deal, though.

The only frustrating part now is not being able to move it into the correct folder in DTTG, and having to try several times to get DTTG to sync over wifi each time. Still waiting on those fixes…

Getting pages from the iPad into DevonThink remains a pain.

I have used GoodReader, Printbureau and iAnnote, but I tend to use iCab because it provides an easier 3-step process (iCab is cheaper than iAnnotate and PDF converter).

As Steinthal points out (thanks!) iCab Mobile can clip webpages to PDF and also to webarchives and send them to DTTG.

iCab Mobile comes with a bookmarklet to open pages from Safari Mobile directly in iCab Mobile (without the need to add letters to the url and tapping ‘Go’ in the way described in the link provided by msteuernagel).

iCab Mobile can upload to DropBox. So, if adding information to DevonThink while away from your laptop or desktop is your main interest you do not need DTTG.

I use a Hazel-rule to transfer my uploads automatically from DropBox to DevonThink Pro on my Mac.

I just bought this app based on the splash screen tip only to find (after a couple of hours & eventual email to the app support!) it can no longer do it! Clear from the thread here…

Can i suggest someone from DT remove this tip from the login splash screen before someone else wastes time and money?

Thanks!

Which splash screen are you seeing an obsolete tip on, Joe?